PROGRESS SENTINEL
I?: : ,
VOL. XXXXV11 NO. 4 USPS 162-860 KENANSVILLE, NC 28349 JANUARY 26, 1984 16 PAGES THIS WEEK 10 CENTS PLUS TAX
Farmers Stay
? Ahead Of The Herd
Eastern North Carolina
farmers are increasingly at
home on the range, with
poultry and livestock
production making a growing
contribution for farm income.
Chickens, turkey, pies and
cattle are enjoying a boom in
?the state, partly because the
processing plants that
confert livestock to ready-to
cook meat are locating here
in great numbers.
N.C. Agricultural Com
missioner Jim Graham ob
served: "The real plus for
the eastern part of the state
is the increase in processing
facilities."
New or expanded poultry
^and pork plants in eastern
PNorth Carolina are gradually
shifting the center of the
meat-packing industry away
from outmoded packing
houses in the Midwest.
"I'm optimistic about live
stock development,"
Graham said. "There's go
ing to be some bad times, but
overall 1 see increasing pro
duction with the increase in
. processing facilities in the
?irea. 1 think you'll begin to
,ee more feeder and stocker
calves in the state. The
immediate future depends
somewhat on the next com
crop and it looks like farmers
are going to plant wall to
wall. That will mean lower
feed costs next year for
livestock people."
"1 hplipvp u/p will cop a Kir?
"... o
expansion i??' ?th hog and
_poultry production" in eas
tern North Carolina, said
William Prestage of Clinton,
owner of Prestage Farms.
Tlyat enterprise is increasing
turkey production and going
into hog production this year.
"We're in the rtgnt piace
in the United States at the
right time," he added.
"We have water, climate,
and land in southeastern
North Carolina for live
? tock." said Wendell Mur
hy of Rose Hill, vice presi
dent and manager of Murphy
Farms, a large market hog
producer. Murphy Farms is
increasing its hog production
and now markets about
300,000 hogs a year.
High labor costs per pound
of meat processed in the
traditional meat-packing
centers have contributed to
decentralization of the in
dustry. The old meal capitals
include Waterloo, Cedar
Rapids. Sioux City and Du
buque. Iowa; Amaha, Neb.;
Minneapolis and St. Paul,
Minn.t and Kansas City. Mo.
About three-eighths of the
nation's population lives
within an overnight haul by
refrigerated truck from North
Carolina processors. Graham
has pointed out.
Willi ihp itiillaitlr f.tr
fciobacco clouded, eastern
^lorth Carolina farmers have
shown incteased interest in
livestock and poultry pro
duction in recent years. Far
mers have been encouraged
to seek alternatives to to
bacco for several years, but
marketing of alternatives
presems problems that
remain mostly unsolved.
The increase in area pack
ers' capacity means greater
Pnarket potential for area
producers.
Swift & Co. plans to
expend its Wallace turkev
processing plant's capacity
by about 30 percent starting
this year. Manager Dave
Bray said he expects the
plant to process about 5.5
million turkeys this year. A
S3.7 million freezer storage
plant opened adjacent to the
I Swift plant late last year. The
freezer can store between 12
million and 17 million pounds
of meat or produce.
The freezer plant also
offers the potential of ex
panded export markets for
local meat, by refrigerated
containers through the Wil
mington port.
Lundy, the largest meat
packer in North Carolina and
>>ne of the largest pork
packers in the U.S., is
doubling its Clinton plan's
capacity in a multimillion
dollar construction program.
A
Lundy's goal is the ability tor
process up to 3 million hogs a
year.
Carrolls Foods of Warsaw
plans to expand both turkey
and hog production. It now
grows out S.S million turkeys
and 180,000 market hogs. It
plans to double the hog out
put, largely on the basis of
the increased packing plant
facilities in the region.
Prestage plans to grown
out about 2 million turkeys
this year and 3 million by
1986. He is planning to
develop a 7,000-show com
mercial swine herd during a
four or five year period. He is
investing about $14 million
"in the future of our area
livestock industry."
Several large Delaware
and Maryland poultry com
panies own broiler and
turkey breeding flocks that
are maintained by contract
farmers in the region.
Carlisle Associates main
tains a market egg packaging
plant in Burgaw.
Competition in the poultry
industry has been intense,
however, and business fail
ures have occurred. The
Watson Seafood & Poultry
Co. of Rose Hill went down
early last year, largely under
pressure of sagging prices
and high feed costs. It filed
for protection under Chapter
13 of the federal bank
rupiwy uiuc ?nu isicr wcm
out of business when it was
?in.u > tic estaNTsh a pay
ment program satisfactory to
court and creditors.
A group of independent
producers organized a cor
poration last year to establish
a swine marketing center
near Chadbourn in Columbus
County. The market is ex
pected to open next month.
The idea, said James Nor
ris, county livestock exten
sion agent, is to provide a
center for small independent
producers t > bring their
hogs. By combining their
numbers, he said, they can
take advantage of truck-lot
volume to ask for and get top
market prices. Packers fre
quently pay bonuses for
volume and quality known in
advance and delivered when
needed.
Meanwhile, North Caro
lina has become a national
and world leader in overall
poultry production, with
much of it centered in Duplin
and Sampson counties.
Poultry and poultry pro
ducts brought the state's
producers $829 million in
1982, according to the N.C.
Department of Agriculture.
Hogs brought farmers nearly
$400 million that year. North
Carolina farmers marketed
1*7 ?:n: ? . .._i i?*
X. / IllIIIH'II 'UIKCJTS l?X5' yCttl
more than in any oilier state.
They marketed 3.8 million
hogs in 1980, a lot of bacon
bu' well short of national
leadership. Iowa farmers
marketed 23.4 million hogs
in that year.
Livestock and livestock
products brought North
Carolina's farmers an esti
mated $1.6 billion in 1982.
according to the state and
federal crop and livestock
reporting services. Iowa led
the nation with livestock and
poultry income of $6 billion.
Decentralization of the
packing industry and greatly
increased Capacity of eastern
meat processing plants sup
pop the optimism of pro
ducers and officials in North
Carolina. Virginia and Geor
gia about the future of the
poultry and livestock indus
tries of the region.
The trend is away from the
nop hem pork and beef pack
ing centers. Firms such as
Lundy Packing Co. of Clin
ton, Dinner Bell of Wilson,
Gwaltney and Smithfield of
Smithfield, Va., and Iowa
Beef Packers, which has
plants scattered across half
the country, have become
industry leaders. Swift & Co.
has developed a major turkey
processing plant near
Wallace. Nash Johnson &
Sons' Farms of Rose Hill has
developed another major
turkcv processing plant at
^Raeford. Holly Farms of
Witkesfcoro and Perdue of
Delaware, which also pro
duces chickens in North
Carolina, are among the
largest broiler producers in
the country.
Livestock producers recog
nize bad years frequently
occur. Late last year and at
the present producers face
relatively static prices for
their livestock. At the same
time, feed costs are excep
tionally high.
Prestage said the people
who do the best job survive
the bad times and make
money in the good times
Iowa farmers, who lead the
world in pork production, call
hogs the "mortgage lifters."
The days of a few chickens
scratching about the farm
yard and a family of pigs in a
wallow behing the barn have
almost vanished.
Mitdern pork and poultry
production is a highly inte
grated business. Companies
called program operators
own feed mills to grind and
mix feed. The companies
also own and operate hatch
eries and swine nurseries to
produce broiler chicks,
turkey poults and baby pigs.
The contract with farmers
to grow these birds and
animals to market size.
Virtually all poultry is pro
duced in such operations.
Some companies involved
in poultrv production own
processing plants and work
out their own marketing pro
grams. Swift & Co. with its
Butterball turkeys, Nash
Johnson's House of Raeford
and Holly Farms are among
the industry's leaders in total
integration, which extends to
advertising and marketing.
Others, such as Carrolls
Foods, contract with packers
to buy their birds.
Swine program operators
generally contract with pack
ers to buy their market hogs.
Hundreds of independent
farmers as well as several
large program operators
produce swine in this area.
Norris believes the inde
pendent producer should and
will remain the mainstay of
the hog business. Prestage
believes many independent
hog producers will prosper
20 years from now. Some of
the independent farmers are
among the most efficient
producers, he added.
Murphy believes many
farmers find it advantageous
to avail the risk of direct
marketing and accept a con
traced price per animal or
pound of production from a
program operator, such as
Murphy farms, instead. The
program operators who own
hogs, turkeys or chickens
t ake t he risks and t he profit s.
Norris said the coastal
plain's climate permits con
struction of livestock housing
at much lower cost than in
the traditional midwestern
livestock producing centers.
He also said the state's
farmers could increase corn
and soybean yields by paying
more attention to the crops
and thus increase livestock
feed production. He said that
if farmers put just some of
the tender loving care into
these crops they apply to
tobacco they could increase
profi's in normal production
years.
Duplin General
Hospital
Sues Auditor
Duplin General Hospital
Inc. has filed a suit against
one of its former auditing
firms in Duplin County
Superior Court ' in
Kenansviile charging the
firm with failure to properly
record hospital assets.
The suit asks for punitive
and actual damages, each in
excess of SI0,000, from A.M.
Pullen Co., a Greensboro
certified public accounting
firm, which served as the
hospital's auditing firm from
the early 1960s to October
31. 1980. The suit charges
?ha' the accountants failed to
include the value of the $2.1
million Lee Brown addition,
which was opened in April
1971. in its lis' of hospital
asse's. The suit claims the
hospital asse's should have
to'aled $2.5 million instead
..f Hie $450,000 listed in 1971
and tha1 the assets in fol
lowing years should also
have been higher.
Hospital Administrator
Richard Harrell said last
Wednesday that hospital
officials had been advised
no1 to comment on the case
while i( is in litigation.
Harrell claimed discrepan
cies in hospital assets listed
in its books were discovered
in a review of assets last
February.
Following this discovery,
he said, an amended cost
repor was sent to the Medi
caid-Medicare system to re
coup unpaid depreciation for
the 1979-82 years. The hos
pital recently received a
$120,000 payment- from the
federal programs for the
amended costs.
A New Look
Is Coming To
Your Newspaper
Weekly readers of the
Duplin Times/ Duplin
Today/ Pink Hill Review may
perceive quite a bit of dif
ference in their newspaper
next week.
Your newspaper will have
a new look for the new year,
designed to make reading a
little easier and the paper
look a lot better.
It will take ys some time to
iron all of the wrinkles out,
but we hope you will find it
much easier to locate your
favorite features and the new
column widths should be
easier to read. In most cases,
photos will be larger.
It may take some getting
used to, but we think you will
like our new format. We
hope so because it's taken a
lot of effort on the part of the
entire staff.
See format on Page 3.
4
EAGLE SCOUTS HONORED - The Duplin County Board
of Commissioners recognized five young men who have.
been awarded the honor of Eagle Scout. Pictured above,
left to right, chairman of the Duplin Commissioners Alan
Nethercutt presents certificates of recognition to Eagle
Scouts David G. Williamson and Austin Steve Carter on
January 16 during the regular meeting of the Board of
Commissioners. Recognized, but not present to accept the
awards, were Timothy H. I.loyd, the son of William Lloyd
of Bowdens, Kahn Fountain, the son of Ben Fountain of
rural Beulaville. and Steven Williamson, brother of David
G. Williamson, and sons of Judge Steve Williamson of
Kenansville. Austin Steve Carter is the son of Austin
Carter of Faison.
Goshen Directors
Respond To Audit
Ac'i<ms to comply with 'he
federal audi' recommenda
? ions a' Goshen Medical
Cen'er made by i's funding
agency, U.S., Public Health
Services, were announced
Jan. 13 by 'he Goshen Board
of Directors.
The audi' and review con
duced in 1983 resuhed in 'he
wi'hdrawal of U.S. Public
Heal'h Services funding for
'he 1984 fiscal year a'
Goshen Medical Cen'er
pending 'he response by 'he
Cen'er's Board of Directors.
Gran' funds were extended
'he medical cen'er in Faison
through February to allow
'he direc'ors time to decide if
Goshen would continue as a
federally funded health clinic
or opera'e as a private fa
cili'y.
The medical center board
moved M continue operations
as a federally funded facility
a' a January 18 mee'ing of
'he direc'ors. The unanimous
decision followed when data
indica'ed the level of health
care w. uld drop a' Goshen
Medical Cen'er wi'li the
withdrawal of federal funds
from 'he Rural Health Ini'ia
?ive program.
Responding to 'he audit
and review, the Goshen
Medical Cen'er issued a
wri"en s'a'ement to Public
Heal'h Services. In response
'o 'he $19,773 suit brought
by 'he Depanmen' of Labor,
a 'en'a'ive agreement to
o mpensa'e employee over
time claims has been
reached.
The Board complied with
'lie recommenda'ion to
dele'e 'he personnel policy
proliibi'ing Medical Cen'er
employees from engaging in
public or.priva'e conversa
?i. ns concerning clinic opera
'i' ns concerning clinic opera
'i ns under 'hrea' of dis
missal.
The Board submitted
documen'a'ion of'he 19 days
of compensatory time
claimed by Goshen Medical
Cen'er Adminis'ra'or Jane
Silver. Audi'ors repor'td no
documcn'al for 'he overtime
claimed bv Silver and recom
mended 'he administrator
expec' n.i compensatory lime
due 'he nature and salary
<>f "he position. Medical
cen'er directors requested
wri"en guidelines for grant
ing compcnsa'orv 'ime.
The Board maintained that
Silver was justified in re
ceiving a S400 bonus in 1983
af'er having no bonus for
1982. Auditors had recom
mended Silver repay the
$400 af'er receiving a four
percen' bonus while other
medical cen'er employees
were awarded only two per
cen" .
Repaymen' of $l,59b of a
$20,000 contrac' for consult
ing fees by Medical Support
Gr up. Inc., has been re
ques'ed in compliance with
'lie federal audi' requests.
The awarding of the contract
Medical Support Group.
Inc. was termed a conflict of
in'eres' and filed to meet
federal regulations for com
pe'i'ive bidding. Alan Silver,
Consul'ant wi'h Medical
Suppor' Group, Inc., is the
husband of Goshen Adminis
'ra'or Jane Silver.
Paymen' has been re
ceived from Goshen to the
U.S. Treasury for $3,6b8 in
in'eres' generated by medi
cal center bank accounts
con'aining federal grant
ni' 'nies.
Cash payments to doctors
f r Individual Retirement
Accounts are not considered
in compu'ing fringe benefit
ra'es T>r all employees con
trary to the audit report.
Documentation was included
in 'he reply by 'he Goshen
B. ard. Cash payments to
doc'ors for IRAs will con
tinue bu> the amount will
become par' of the contrac
'ual salary as recommended
by'he audit and review.
The Board also approved
recommendations for all em
ployees a' Gofchen Medical
Ccn'er to submit time
slice's. The Board will also
consider 'he fu'ure purchase
of a time clock. A written
'ravel policy will be -imple
men'cd along with an ac
coun'ing procedures manual
f r Goshen Medical Center.
Duplin Wants Grant
- r ... ? .
To Buy Garbage Site
Duplin County officials
want to use a federal revenue
sharing gran' M take ad
van'age of a land sale and
assure the county of a place
to dump its garbage.
Ihe county Board of Com
missioners last week took a
bO-day option on a 133-acre
si'e across the road from the
presen' county landfill for
fu'ure garbade disposal. If
?he s'a'e approves the site
for landfill operations, the
county will pay the owner.
John Bachelor, $1,000 an
acre for a total of $133,000
for the land.
At the current rate of use,
the board expects the
present landfill to be filled in
nine years. The proposed
additional acreage is being
put up for sale and the
location beside the present
landfill prompted the board's
action at this time.
County Manager Ralph
Cottle reported receipt of ,
$201,570 in revenue sharing
funds Jan. 9. He said a
similar amount can be ex
pected hi early April. The
b^ard v.i'ed '?> h><ld a hearing
>>n amending the revenue
sharing budge' a' 9:15 a.m.
Feb. 6 during 'he board's
regular mee'ing in 'he court
house in Kenansville.
Under'he revenue sharing
budge', 'he board would use:
? $80,000 to replace the
Duplin General Hospi'al
roof.
? $30,000 to repair a roof
a1 James Sprun' Technical
College a'Kenansville.
? $72,000 for a garbage
?ruck io replace an ailing
vehicle 'ha' has cos' the
coun'y $22,000 in repairs in
'he pas' two years.
In other action ihe board:
? Approved the request
of Frank Moore, tax super
visor. for $20,000 to hire five
people pan-'ime to type the
'ax revaluation information
in'o the county computer. He
estimated the work would
require 26 weeks. The
workers will be paid $3.90
^cr hour.
? By a split vote, ap
proved a request for $2,000
from Merle Creech, director
of the coun'y arts council.
, 9
She said $874 will be used for
in-school projects. $600 for a
facili'ies s'udy and $526 for
communi'v projects.
Vo'ing against the appro
priation were Commissioners
D.J. Fusseltof Rose Hill and
Allen Ne'hercuit of the Beu
laville area. Voting for it
were Commissioners W.J.
Cos'in of Warsaw, Dovey
Penny of Wallace and Calvin
Coolidge Turner of the Al
berson area.
?_ Bids for reroofing the
South Wing building ?t the
hospital site were rejeced as
too high. The board esti
mated the low bid of $79,390
from Curtis Construction Co.
of Kinston was too high.
It voted to readvenise for
bids and include reroofing
the Herring Building at
James Sprunt Technical Col
lege in the project.
? Cottle was told to see if
the county's insurance policy
will pay the $3,961.76 billed
the county by the state for
damage to a bridge that
occurred when a county truck
struck the bridge while
^voiding another vehicle.
? Joe Cos'in. Health De
par'men' director, and Harry
Carl'on of Wallace, chairman
of 'he Board of Heal'h, asked
'he commissioners to bring
nurses in the department up
'o 'he s'a'e's pay leve. The
nurses are four pay grades
under 'he s'a'e level due to a
'wo-year county wage freeze
and an increase in pay of
s'a'e nurses.
The county's nuises now
average 23.8 percent less in
salary than the state level for
their respective grades, the
heal'h officials said. The
commissioners decided to
delav action until they see a
s'udy of county employee
grades and salaries.
? Decided to advertise
for an industrial develop
ment director to succeed
John Gurganus, who re
signed to take another posi
tion.
The salary will range from
$22,633 to $29,953 per year,
depending on the back
ground of the successful
applicant. Gurganus re
ceived $23,979 per year.
f